


Silver Pepper

by avidbeader



Series: Avidbeader's Sheith Positivity Week 2017 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03, Romantic Fluff, Sheith Positivity Week 2017, sheithpositivityweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 19:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11607510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avidbeader/pseuds/avidbeader
Summary: Written for Sheith Positivity Week 2017. Day 2: Sun/Stars. I make no promises as to whether I can come up with other entries.





	Silver Pepper

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: If you recognize the character, it isn't mine. Just playing in Dreamworks' sandbox.
> 
> Note: I'm on Twitter and Tumblr under the same name. Come say hi!

 

He tries, he really does, but after nearly an hour of listening to either self-important dignitaries pontificate about alliances or _racist_ self-important dignitaries sneer about the Galra (not having heard yet that one of the Paladins of Voltron that they’re hosting is descended from the Galra), Keith is just done.

 

He takes a glass of the local wine, a disgusting liquid that tastes like a rancid Nunvill with sour cherries added, and slips out the doors to a large terrace. The night air is cool and a blessing after the heat of so many bodies in the ballroom, all talking at once. Now that he’s out of sight, Keith loosens the collar of his Altean dress uniform and lets it fall away from his throat.

 

He looks up at the night sky, not expecting anything but another anonymous scattering of stars in a dark background. But for the first time he can remember, the view is hauntingly familiar.

 

Stars hang everywhere above the trees and the horizon, glinting against a deep blue backdrop. And rising from behind one of the hills, almost like the arc of a rainbow, is a bright, hazy path that shows lighter blues and muted pinks and whites. A few very white stars dot the trail as it traces its way up and eventually fades.

 

If Keith didn’t know better, he would swear he was in Arizona, looking up at one arm of the Milky Way in all its spiraled glory.

 

He stares, remembering nights of sky-gazing with his father as a young child, learning the planets and constellations and how they moved over the course of the seasons. He hears familiar footsteps on the tiles of the terrace and his memories shift to nights spent on the Garrison rooftop or out in the desert with his best friend…

 

Shiro comes up behind him. “You needed a breather, too?”

 

Keith nods and leans back into Shiro’s chest. Shiro pushes Keith’s hair to the side and, discovering the exposed skin, trails a few kisses up Keith’s neck.

 

Keith ducks away slightly, a smile on his lips, but Shiro slides his arms around him and holds him in place.

 

“If the Grand Mahadizier sees us…”

 

“Allura will tear him a new one for not minding his own business.” Shiro plucks the glass from Keith’s hand and sets it on the wide balustrade in front of them. “And besides, it’s not like we’re making out. Just a committed pair, regarding the silver pepper of the stars.”

 

Keith leans back further and turns his head so he can see Shiro. One eyebrow goes up. “The what?”

 

Shiro chuckles and tightens his hold. “You never read _The Great Gatsby?_ ”

 

“No…did they make a movie out of it?”

 

“Yeah, there’s over a dozen different versions. It’s funny, I read it in school, wrote the essay, took the test, got good grades on them. But now that’s the only thing I remember out of the entire book. That one phrase just struck me as a perfect description of the stars at night. And of course I was already thinking of the Garrison, of trying to pilot in space.”

 

Keith looks back up at the sky. He has to admit, it’s an elegant phrase and pretty accurate, the white and glowing flakes scattered across the dark expanse. Like Shiro, he used to dream of flying among them one day.

 

And he does. He just didn’t expect to do so in a temperamental sentient lion-shaped warship that joined up with four others to create the most powerful weapon in the universe.

 

“But you don’t remember who was regarding the stars or why.”

 

“Nope,” Shiro replies cheerfully. “But I’m going to say it was Gatsby and his lover, taking a break from some party that had gotten _dreadfully_ boring. They slipped outside, into the courtyard, and found a secluded corner suitable for enjoying one another’s company without interruption.”

 

And Keith finds himself lifted and hauled back behind one of the mansion’s pilasters, out of sight of the doors. Shiro spins him around and dives for his throat again.

 

Keith looks once more at the spill of tiny gleaming motes across the sky, then pulls Shiro’s head up and devotes his full attention to kissing in the luminous starlight.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you as always for reading!


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